Sec. 64.055. ENFORCEMENT BY NOTICE TO TENANT

(a) After default, or as otherwise agreed by the assignor, the assignee may provide to a tenant of real property that is subject to an assignment of rents a notice demanding that the tenant pay to the assignee all unpaid accrued rents and all unaccrued rents as they accrue. The assignee shall provide a copy of the notice to the assignor in the manner provided by Section 64.002. The notice must substantially comply with the form prescribed by Section 64.056 and be signed by the assignee or the assignee's authorized agent or representative.

(b) For the purposes of Section 64.053(b), the assignee begins enforcement under this section on the date on which the tenant receives a notice complying with Subsection (a).

(c) Subject to Subsection (d) and any other claim or defense that a tenant has under a law of this state other than this chapter, after a tenant receives a notice under Subsection (a):

(1) the tenant is obligated to pay to the assignee all unpaid accrued rents and all unaccrued rents as they accrue, unless the tenant has previously received a notice under this section from another assignee of rents provided by that assignee in accordance with this section and the other assignee has not canceled that notice;

(2) except as otherwise provided by a document signed by the tenant, the tenant is not obligated to pay to an assignee rent that was prepaid to the assignor before the tenant received the notice under Subsection (a);

(3) unless the tenant occupies the premises as the tenant's primary residence, the tenant is not discharged from the obligation to pay rents to the assignee if the tenant pays rents to the assignor;

(4) the tenant's payment to the assignee of rents then due satisfies the tenant's obligation under the tenant's agreement with the assignor to the extent of the payment made; and

(5) the tenant's obligation to pay rents to the assignee continues until the earliest date on which the tenant receives:

(A) a court order directing the tenant to pay the rents in a different manner;

(B) a signed notice that a perfected security instrument that has priority over the assignee's security interest has been foreclosed; or

(C) a signed document from the assignee canceling the assignee's notice.

(d) Except as otherwise provided by a document signed by the tenant, a tenant who has received a notice under Subsection (a) is not in default for nonpayment of rents that accrue during the 30 days after the date the tenant receives the notice until the earlier of:

(1) the 10th day after the date the next regularly scheduled rental payment would be due; or

(2) the 30th day after the date the tenant receives the notice.

(e) On receiving a notice from another creditor who has priority under Section 64.052(c) that the creditor with priority has conducted a foreclosure sale of the real property from which the rents arise or is enforcing the creditor's interest in rents by notice to the tenant, an assignee that has provided a notice to a tenant under Subsection (a) shall immediately provide another notice to the tenant canceling the earlier notice.

Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 636 , Sec. 2, eff. June 17, 2011.